9/11 Reflections: Peter Schaefer, West Sand Lake

I was driving to work at a Long Island medical center, listening to Howard Stern on the car radio when he announced that a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. At first, I thought it was a spoof, but as I pulled into the parking lot, the second plane had hit the other tower and I realized the seriousness of it.

The medical center is the tallest building on Long Island ; many overseas flights use it as a landmark for the JFK airport. On entering the building, I rushed with my coworkers to the top floor to see the burning Twin Towers in Manhattan. We returned to our offices and tuned in any available radio or television. As word came in that the first tower was collapsing, we again rushed to the top floor only to see that the second tower had collapsed amid a huge cloud of smoke and debris. Later, there was only smoke rising, and we realized that the New York City horizon had changed forever.

The following morning, as my wife and I walked our daughter to the school bus stop, there was a strange haze and odor in the air. First thinking that there had been a house fire nearby, we realized that the wind had shifted and was coming from the west. The haze was the smoke from the remains of the World Trade Center and the associated smell of everything burning within.

As the months went on, every morning on my way to work I would pass funeral processions assembling in front of area firehouses. Many New York City firemen lived on Long Island. The tragedy of that event lived with me in that way as long as I lived there. Even today, when I see a low‐flying airliner overhead, I look up suspiciously and recall the memories of that horrific day.— Submitted by Peter Schaefer, West Sand Lake